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Exploring UFOs and Extraterrestrial LifeTue, 03 Mar 2015 16:42:09 +0000en-UShourly1http://wordpress.org/?v=4.1.1Potentially good news for life on Europahttp://www.openminds.tv/potentially-good-news-for-life-on-europa-922/18822
http://www.openminds.tv/potentially-good-news-for-life-on-europa-922/18822#commentsThu, 07 Mar 2013 14:56:25 +0000http://www.openminds.tv/?p=18822A new study suggests that salt water from the massive ocean beneath the icy surface of Jupiter's moon Europa makes its way to the surface.

A new study suggests that salt water from the massive ocean beneath the icy surface of Jupiter’s moon Europa makes its way to the surface through cracks in the ice sheet–a discovery that could be good news for the search for extraterrestrial life.

Water reaching the surface of Europa. (Credit: NASA/JPL-Caltech)

As Space.com explains, “Scientists have detected chemicals on Europa’s frozen surface that could only come from the global liquid-water ocean beneath, implying the two are in contact and potentially opening a window into an environment that may be capable of supporting life as we know it.”

According to Popular Science, researchers hypothesize that when salty water from Europa’s sub-surface ocean makes its way to the surface, it is exposed to sulfur from Jupiter’s largest moon Io. The sulfer interacts with magnesium chloride in the water and produces magnesium sulfate, according to the study’s lead author Mike Brown of Caltech in Pasadena.

This discovery shows that chemical activity and energy transfer occur on the surface of Europa, which is important for the search for life there because, as Popular Science explains, “any alien creatures living on the frigid moon would need an energy source–the sun is far too dim at that distance to really do anything.” And with ocean water making its way to Europa’s surface, scientists may be able to collect samples without drilling through the ice sheet.

]]>http://www.openminds.tv/potentially-good-news-for-life-on-europa-922/18822/feed0Professor looking for a new way to detect ET lifehttp://www.openminds.tv/professor-looking-for-new-way-to-detect-et-life-915/18672
http://www.openminds.tv/professor-looking-for-new-way-to-detect-et-life-915/18672#commentsFri, 15 Feb 2013 22:18:12 +0000http://www.openminds.tv/?p=18672A professor is researching a new method for detecting extraterrestrial life. And he is using rocks on Earth to do it.

]]>A professor is researching a new method for detecting extraterrestrial life. And he is using rocks on Earth to do it.

Professor Clark Johnson. (Credit: UW-Madison)

University of Wisconsin-Madison geoscience professor Clark Johnson is working with a team of scientists to “find ‘biosignatures,’ or traces of ancient life, in rocks on Earth to prepare for the future if rock samples from other planets, including Mars, become available for testing.” According to the Daily Cardinal, Johnson’s interest in searching for extraterrestrial life was piqued after reading an article about a meteorite that was thought to contain evidence of life from Mars.

There have been multiple meteorites recovered on Earth that scientists have claimed contain evidence of extraterrestrial life. A well-known example is a meteorite that was discovered in Antarctica named ALH 84001 that made headlines in 1996 when scientists claimed the meteorite contained bacteria from Mars. A more recent example is a meteorite that was discovered in Sri Lanka on which scientists claim is fossilized extraterrestrial algae. In both of these cases, the extraterrestrial claims are contested, leaving scientists divided.

Johnson wants to develop a better way to test meteorites to determine conclusively if a sample is extraterrestrial or not. And studying rocks here on Earth is how he plans to accomplish that. He explains, “Since we can freely walk around on the earth rather than rely only on working remotely on another planet, we basically use early life on Earth to inform us about what we might look for in another planet.”

Astrobiologists routinely look to early life on Earth, as well as life currently living in extreme environments on Earth, to better understand life in general, and in what conditions it can exist.

The team’s research is reportedly funded by a $7 million grant from NASA.

]]>Astronomers at Penn State have redefined the habitable zone–the range around a star that is not too cold or too hot for liquid water to exist on a planet, making it potentially capable of sustaining life as we know it.

habitable zone distances around various types of stars based on the updated habitable zone definition. (Credit: Chester Herman)

Building on the previous definition established by Penn State’s Dr. James Kasting, the Penn State Department of Geosciences team developed an updated model for determining whether planets fall within a star’s habitable zone. And in comparing the new model with the previous model, astronomers found that habitable zones are farther away from the stars than previously thought. Space.com explains:

The new definition of the habitable zone is based on updated atmospheric databases called HITRAN (high-resolution transmission molecular absorption) and HITEMP (high-temperature spectroscopic absorption parameters), which give the absorption parameters of water and carbon dioxide — two properties that strongly influence the atmospheres of exoplanets, determining whether those planets could host liquid water.

The new definition isn’t drastically different from the previous definition. But as astronomer Abel Méndez of the University of Puerto Rico at Arecibo explains to Space.com, “Many of those planets that we believe were inside are now outside. But on the other side, it extends the habitable zone’s outer edge, so a few planets that are farther away might fall inside the habitable zone now.” Méndez was not part of the team that redefined the habitable zone. But he does manage a list, called the Habitable Exoplanet Catalog, which contains all known potentially habitable exoplanets.

Adjustments will be made to the catalog based on the redefined habitable zone

]]>http://www.openminds.tv/the-habitable-zone-redefined-905/18475/feed0Antarctic microbes provide clues to extraterrestrial lifehttp://www.openminds.tv/antarctic-microbes-provide-clues-to-extraterrestrial-life-880/17818
http://www.openminds.tv/antarctic-microbes-provide-clues-to-extraterrestrial-life-880/17818#commentsWed, 28 Nov 2012 16:53:36 +0000http://www.openminds.tv/?p=17818New findings are giving researchers a better understanding of the extreme environments in which life as we know it can exist.

]]>New findings are giving researchers a better understanding of the extreme environments in which life as we know it can exist.

Researchers used drills and heated pipes to drill sixty feet into the Antarctic ice before reaching Lake Vida, a lake that has been isolated for an estimated 2,800 years. The temperature of the water was found to be approximately eight degrees Fahrenheit with a saltiness of about five to six times greater than average ocean water, which is what keeps Lake Vida’s water from freezing. The water was also found to be mildly acidic and completely depleted of oxygen. Yet, in this harsh environment, samples collected from the lake reveal that a “diverse and thriving community of microbes in the brine” has managed to survive for millennia.

The brine had very high levels of carbon-based compounds, the building blocks of life. It also possessed high levels of chemicals that generally react with each other, such as nitrous oxide and molecular hydrogen, suggesting they were being regularly replenished — a surprising discovery, given how the lake was isolated for millennia from any obvious external sources of energy to help create them.

Understanding extreme environments where life exists here on Earth helps researchers better understand where life might exist elsewhere in the universe. Peter Doran, one of the researchers who participated in the Lake Vida study explains, “By seeing what the boundaries of life are on Earth, that helps us when we go out and look for examples elsewhere.” Similar sub-surface lakes exist on alien worlds like the icy moons of Saturn and Jupiter, and researchers hope to one day drill through the ice on those worlds in search of life.

On Earth, where there is water, there is life. And as scientists are discovering, this holds true even in the most extreme environments. Time will tell if the same thing holds true throughout the universe.

In the famous words of the fictitious Dr. Ian Malcolm from the movie Jurassic Park, “Life finds a way.”

The detailed findings from Lake Vida were published in the journal Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences.

]]>http://www.openminds.tv/antarctic-microbes-provide-clues-to-extraterrestrial-life-880/17818/feed0Astrobiologists support missions to search for life on Europahttp://www.openminds.tv/astrobiologists-support-missions-to-search-for-life-on-europa-830/16768
http://www.openminds.tv/astrobiologists-support-missions-to-search-for-life-on-europa-830/16768#commentsMon, 27 Aug 2012 23:56:06 +0000http://www.openminds.tv/?p=16768Some scientists believe Jupiter’s moon Europa is the best place to look for alien life in our solar system. Planetary scientist and astrobiologist Kevin Peter Hand recently explained to CNN that Europa “provides an incredibly compelling place to go to search for a second, independent origin of life and it’s a place where we might ...

]]>Some scientists believe Jupiter’s moon Europa is the best place to look for alien life in our solar system.

Planetary scientist and astrobiologist Kevin Peter Hand recently explained to CNN that Europa “provides an incredibly compelling place to go to search for a second, independent origin of life and it’s a place where we might find lifeforms that are alive now, today.” But as Wired explains, “big dollar signs” have prevented the necessary exploratory missions to this moon to search for life. NASA had plans to launch a large spacecraft called the Jupiter Europa Orbiter (JEO), but the craft’s hefty price tag ($4.7 billion is hefty, right?) grounded the project indefinitely.

Refusing to accept Europa exploration as a lost cause, astrobiologist Pabulo Henrique Rampelotto of Brazil’s Federal University of Pampa formulated alternative mission concepts for sending craft to Europa for less money. As outlined in the journal Astrobiology, Rampelotto favors sending three small spacecraft, rather than one large spacecraft. Wired explains that this plan, which would include two orbiters and a probe carrying a surface impactor, “could spread out both the cost and the risk while hitting all of JEO’s science goals, and then some.”

According to Wired, Bob Pappalardo, a scientist helping NASA develop future Moon missions, said Rampelotto’s proposal is logical for “tight budgetary times.” But he points out that “saving money by splitting up a big mission into smaller ones brings about another issue: fear of commitment.”

Although the likelihood of any Europa mission happening in the near future is slim, Rampelotto shares the opinion of many scientists that Europa is “the prime candidate in the search for life in our solar system.”

]]>http://www.openminds.tv/astrobiologists-support-missions-to-search-for-life-on-europa-830/16768/feed0Europa’s potential for diverse extraterrestrial ecosystemshttp://www.openminds.tv/the-potential-for-diverse-extraterrestrial-ecosystems-in-europas-ocean-823/16552
http://www.openminds.tv/the-potential-for-diverse-extraterrestrial-ecosystems-in-europas-ocean-823/16552#commentsTue, 14 Aug 2012 17:20:21 +0000http://www.openminds.tv/?p=16552Some of Jupiter and Saturn's moons are among the most promising worlds where alien life could exist.

]]>Although some scientists are pessimistic about finding life elsewhere in our galaxy, there are many who believe our galaxy has many potential places in which life could exist. And some of Jupiter and Saturn’s moons are among the most promising.

Two proposed models of the subsurface structure of Europa. (Credit: NASA/JPL)

Kevin Peter Hand, a planetary scientist and astrobiologist, recently explained in an article published on CNN.com, “These moons — worlds with names like Europa, Enceladus, and Titan — are covered with solid water ice, beneath which we have very good reason to believe that vast liquid water oceans exist.” On Earth, where there is water, life is usually present. Hand surmises that these moons with substantial water “could be great homes for alien ecosystems.” But in saying this, he carefully notes, “When I say ‘alien ecosystems’ I’m referring primarily to microbes and simple life forms. As much as I’d love to discover creatures like those seen in the movie The Abyss, I’ll be happy just to find a considerable speck of a microbe!”

Hand believes Jupiter’s moon Europa may have the perfect combination of liquid water and the chemistry needed to sustain life. He describes, “Europa provides an incredibly compelling place to go to search for a second, independent origin of life and it’s a place where we might find lifeforms that are alive now, today.” As someone who has explored the deepest depths of Earth’s oceans, Hand knows very well that our understanding of habitable environments here on Earth continues to change with discoveries of ecosystems in the deepest parts of our oceans, and so too does our understanding of potentially habitable environments beyond Earth.

And with two-to-three times the volume of all the liquid water on Earth, Europa’s ocean is likely to have a wide variety of ecosystems.

]]>http://www.openminds.tv/the-potential-for-diverse-extraterrestrial-ecosystems-in-europas-ocean-823/16552/feed0Extraterrestrial life could be on the moons of Marshttp://www.openminds.tv/extraterrestrial-life-could-be-on-the-moons-of-mars-972/15897
http://www.openminds.tv/extraterrestrial-life-could-be-on-the-moons-of-mars-972/15897#commentsTue, 03 Jul 2012 17:56:52 +0000http://www.openminds.tv/?p=15897The moons of Mars could provide evidence of life on the red planet.

]]>The moons of Mars could provide evidence of life on the red planet. That’s according to Purdue University professor Dr. Jay Melosh.

The orbits of Martian moons and the spread of potential particle trajectories from an asteroid impact on Mars. (Credit: Purdue University/Loic Chappaz)

A press release published on June 28 details Melosh’s theory that “a mission to a Martian moon could return with alien life.” He explains that, if life ever existed on Mars, or even if it exists today, the moons of Mars would almost certainly contain Martian material delivered by debris from large asteroid impacts. And as io9.com explains, of the two Martian moons, Phobos is especially likely to contain these Martian particles.

Melosh led a team chosen by NASA’s Planetary Protection Office to determine if samples from Phobos contain enough recent material from Mars to include “viable Martian organisms.” Team member Loic Chappaz expounded, “It is estimated that during the past 10 million years there have been at least four large impact events powerful enough to launch material into space, and we focused on several large craters as possible points of origin. It turns out that no matter where Phobos is in its orbit, it would have captured material from these powerful impact events.”

The researchers concluded that:

A 200-gram sample scooped from the surface of Phobos could contain, on average, about one-tenth of a milligram of Mars surface material launched in the past 10 million years and 50 billion individual particles from Mars. The same sample could contain as much as 50 milligrams of Mars surface material from the past 3.5 billion years.

Special attention is paid to time frames, because, as team member Professor Kathleen Howell explains, “It is thought that after 10 million years of exposure to the high levels of radiation on Phobos, any biologically active material would be destroyed.” Howell added, “Even if we found no evidence of life in a sample from Phobos, it would not be a definitive answer to the question of whether or not there was life on Mars. There still may have been life that existed too long ago for us to detect it.”

As NASA reformulates its Mars Exploration Program, a future mission to Phobos is a possibility.

The team’s findings were presented at a joint NASA-European Space Agency meeting in Austria.

]]>http://www.openminds.tv/extraterrestrial-life-could-be-on-the-moons-of-mars-972/15897/feed0Scientists find extensive water beneath the Martian surfacehttp://www.openminds.tv/scientists-find-extensive-water-beneath-the-martian-surface-963/15749
http://www.openminds.tv/scientists-find-extensive-water-beneath-the-martian-surface-963/15749#commentsThu, 21 Jun 2012 19:24:36 +0000http://www.openminds.tv/?p=15749A new study leads researchers to conclude that there is an extensive amount of water in the interior of Mars.

A new study leads researchers to conclude that there is an extensive amount of water in the interior of Mars–results vastly different from previous estimates.

This study, led by University of New Mexico scientist Francis McCubbin, analyzed Martian meteorites that originated from Mars’s mantle. Carnegie Institution investigator Erik Hauri explains:

We analyzed two meteorites that had very different processing histories. One had undergone considerable mixing with other elements during its formation, while the other had not. We analyzed the water content of the mineral apatite and found there was little difference between the two even though the chemistry of trace elements was markedly different. The results suggest that water was incorporated during the formation of Mars and that the planet was able to store water in its interior during the planet’s differentiation.

The research suggests that the volume of water within the Martian mantle is similar to the volume of water in Earth’s upper mantle. According to Phys.org, “the Martian mantle source from which the rocks were derived contained between 70 and 300 parts per million (ppm) water,” whereas Earth’s upper mantle “contains approximately 50-300 ppm water.” Hauri explains that there has been substantial evidence for the presence of liquid water on Mars’s surface, “so it’s been puzzling why previous estimates for the planet’s interior have been so dry. This new research makes sense and suggests that volcanoes may have been the primary vehicle for getting water to the surface.”

According to Phys.org, this new data raises “the possibility that Mars could have sustained life.”

]]>http://www.openminds.tv/scientists-find-extensive-water-beneath-the-martian-surface-963/15749/feed0NASA scientists may have discovered life on Titanhttp://www.openminds.tv/nasa-scientists-may-have-discovered-life-on-titan-952/15589
http://www.openminds.tv/nasa-scientists-may-have-discovered-life-on-titan-952/15589#commentsFri, 08 Jun 2012 17:10:19 +0000http://www.openminds.tv/?p=15589New studies indicate the possibility of exotic life on this Saturn moon.

Researchers used data from NASA’s Cassini spacecraft to study the chemically complex surface of Titan. Based on their research, scientists say it is possible that a “primitive, exotic form of life or precursor to life” may exist on Titan. This research is outlined in two separate papers; one in the journal Icarus, and one in the Journal of Geophysical Research.

Saturn's moon Titan, as seen from the Cassini spacecraft. (Credit: NASA/Cassini Imaging Team)

The research published in Icarus concluded that hydrogen gas found in Titan’s atmosphere disappeared at the moon’s surface. And as the Telegraph explains, this suggests that alien forms could be breathing on Titan. Similarly, the paper published in the Journal of Geophysical Research notes a lack of the chemical compound acetylene at Titan’s surface. Chris McKay, an astrobiologist at NASA Ames Research Center, explains that “this lack of acetylene is important because that chemical would likely be the best energy source for a methane-based life on Titan.” Scientists believe that life on Titan would consume hydrogen as life on Earth consumes oxygen.

Cassini also detected the presence of something appearing to be an organic compound on Titan’s surface that scientists have been unable to identify.

McKay explains the significance of these studies, stating, “If these signs do turn out to be a sign of life, it would be doubly exciting because it would represent a second form of life independent from water-based life on Earth.”

Although this new information suggests the existence of extraterrestrial life on Titan, Darrell Strobel, a Cassini interdisciplinary scientist at Johns Hopkins University who authored the paper with the hydrogen study, explains, “The new hydrogen findings are consistent with conditions that could produce an exotic, methane-based life form, but do not definitively prove its existence.”

Cassini will fly by Titan many more times, and will hopefully be able to provide additional information.

]]>http://www.openminds.tv/nasa-scientists-may-have-discovered-life-on-titan-952/15589/feed0Scientists think meteorite indicates Martian lifehttp://www.openminds.tv/scientists-think-meteorite-indicates-martian-life-932/15249
http://www.openminds.tv/scientists-think-meteorite-indicates-martian-life-932/15249#commentsTue, 08 May 2012 22:16:36 +0000http://www.openminds.tv/?p=15249A research team thinks it discovered signs of life in a meteorite from Mars.

A team of scientists recently concluded that samples collected by NASA’s Mars Viking robots in 1976 were originally incorrectly identified by scientists as geologic samples, rather than biologic samples, therefore concluding that NASA discovered life on Mars 36 years ago. And now, a research team thinks it discovered signs of life in a meteorite from Mars.

A team of scientists from the School of Mathematics at Cardiff University, and the Buckingham Centre for Astrobiology at the University of Buckingham recently published a paper in which the team concludes that, based on preliminary tests, a Martian meteorite could indicate life on Mars. This meteorite crashed in the Morrocan desert on June 18, 2011 approximately 30 miles south of the village Tissint. The meteorite, named after this village, was found to have spherical globules rich in Carbon and Oxygen. And while some may suggest Earthly contamination occurred, the team is confident that, because of its surrounding thick crust, the meteorite’s interior material is “pristine and uncontaminated.”

According to PhD student Jamie Wallis, one of the scientists from this team, “Other work to confirm our proposal is well under way and all the indications are that structures such as we have found are evidence of life on Mars. The spheres are probably remnants of polysaccharide shells surrounding algal type cells.”